Portland was platted in 1845, then Daniel H. Lownsdale purchased land south and west of the original platting.[19] He drew up a plat in 1848 that included 11 narrow blocks, 100 × 200 feet, instead of the standard 200 × 200 feet.[19] He then brought on Stephen Coffin and William W. Chapman as partners, and dedicated the South Park Blocks and midtown park blocks in 1852.[19][20] This made them the first official greenspace in Portland.[4] While they were dedicated to the city, they weren't owned by the city until September 22, 1870, when Mayor Bernard Goldsmith and Chapman agreed on selling the South Park Blocks and the two Plaza Blocks (Chapman and Lownsdale Squares) to the city for $6,250.[20] Most of the purchase price was for the Plaza Blocks, since the park blocks were at the edge of the developed city.[20]

Ownership of the continuous park blocks was not without dispute, however.[19] After Lownsdale died without a will, and then his wife Nancy died, his estate challenged that his plat didn't require the central section to be dedicated to public use since Nancy had not signed over legal title to the land.[19] The courts agreed in 1865.[19]Benjamin Stark reneged on the donation of two north central park blocks to the city, instead offering to sell them for $138,000.[19][20][21] Captain John H. Couch deeded his section, which became the North Park Blocks to the city on January 25, 1865, only ten days after receiving the federal patent for the land.[19][20] Six of the South Park Blocks were lost to private parties in the 1870s, and elected city officials were unwilling to spend the asking price of $6,000 per block to purchase them so soon after the city had bought the land for Washington Park.[11][22][23] Only a year later, a proposal to acquire the six blocks for $92,000 was brought by the city council, showing the increase in prices in that year.[11]

A 1907 tax bond issue was brought to the voters.[11] It would have been a $2 million bond, likely including money to buy back the blocks.[11] The measure failed, and some time later, the street name changed from "West Park" to Southwest 9th".[11] Two missing blocks have been recaptured since then: O'Bryant Square was purchased in 1973,[11] and Director Park opened in 2009.

By the late 1870s, the Park Blocks near the current location of Portland State University were fronted by formal Italianate mansions.[24]

By the 1920s, the central park blocks were home to the 12-story Stevens Building and the 9-story Woodlark Building, as well as six or more hotels.[4][19][22]Edward H. Bennett proposed making the Park Blocks continuous in 1912, part of his "Greater Portland Plan".[19] Otherwise, the next spark was the conversion of one central park block into O'Bryant Square in 1972.[19] The next block to be reclaimed was Director Park, dedicated as a park in 2009, inspired by a 1995 plan to turn the block into a 12-story parking lot.[19]

In 1933, the area surrounding Skidmore Fountain was "tawdry" and nearly neglected, and there was an effort to move the fountain to the South Park Blocks. This did not happen.[25]

After a 1990 Dutch elm disease outbreak in Portland, including one diseased tree at Park and Market in the South Park Blocks, the elm trees have been immunized with Tiabendazole.[26][27] Portland's first outbreak of Dutch elm disease occurred in 1976 at Overlook Park, and the peak infections were in 2003.[28][29]

The South Park Blocks, especially near Portland State University, have been home to protests and marches. A workers' rights protest on May 1, 2000, organized by the May Day Coalition, gathered 300–400 people.[38][39][40] Police chief Mark Kroeker said 19 people, some "dressed like anarchists and (carrying) gas masks" were arrested, and Portland Police used bean bag rounds, with fears of repeating the 1999 WTO riots in Seattle unless sufficient force was shown early.[40][41] The police declared emergency at 3:45 pm after a lit newspaper box was thrown at officers, then the police corralled the marchers into a smaller space with mounted officers and ordered them to disperse.[39][42] A protest march against the police action was held on May 4, 2000, stating that the show of force was excessive and contrary to the city's community policing ethos.[43] 23 complaints of excessive police force led to a large citywide hearing on June 28, 2000.[44] The 2009 May Day rally, supporting immigration reform, attracted 1500 people.[45]

In celebration of Harley-Davidson's 100th anniversary in 2003, an event called Rose City Thunder was held in the South Park blocks, to send riders off for the "Harley-Davidson 100th Anniversary Ride Home".[74][75][76] Two appeals seeking a venue change were held prior to the event, but the city council rejected them, with City Commissioner Jim Francesconi stating "We don't discriminate against groups, period. That's the rules and that's what we abide by."[77][78][79][80] Featuring live music, beer gardens, and thousands of people, it led to questions about why the residential[81] Park Blocks were used, rather than a venue such as Tom McCall Waterfront Park.[76][81][82] An editorial in The Oregonian stated the celebration was "more potbelly than pot smoking", but held the loud exhausts, public address systems, and rows of portable toilets weren't appreciated in a neighborhood setting.[81][83] Organizers estimated 15,000 visitors, plus 2,000 motorcycles attended.[74]

Many protests and marches have been held in response to the 2003 invasion of Iraq. There were several anti-war rallies in 2001 through 2003,[119][120][121][122] including 20,000 at a January 18, 2003 rally,[123] and 20,000–45,000 for the March 15, 2003 rally.[124] Groups broke off from the protest to block roads and the Morrison Bridge; these splinter groups were broken up by the police.[124]John Lewis spoke at the rally.[123]

Approximately 15,000 people protested the fourth anniversary of the war (March 2007).[125] For the fifth anniversary, the Iraq Body Count Exhibit placed red and white flags in the South Park Blocks, signifying who had died between the Americans and Iraqis.[126] There was a large fifth-anniversary protest and parade against the Iraq war ("thousands of protesters", March 2008),[127] and a high school student protest against the war was held in March 2008, with 400 protesters.[128]

Other events have been held, including the Park Block Revels (held from 1972 to at least 1992),[129] the Oregon Historical Society's Holiday Cheer and Authors Party,[129] the Portland Poetry Festival (held from 1972 to at least 1992),[130] Shakespeare-in-the-Park by the Portland Actors Ensemble,[131] the Meier & Frank Holiday Parade (held from 1988 on),[132] the Downtown Community Association's Ice Cream Social (held from 1990 to at least 1992),[133] Carifest, a party by the Caribbean Cultural Association, held from 1996 until at least 2003,[134][135] and PeaceQuake, "an event focused on refugee experiences and
alternatives to war", held by Oregon Physicians for Social Responsibility in at least September 2002 and 2003.[136] In 2008, a local resident was known for wheeling her piano down an elevator and 1.5 blocks to the Park Blocks, setting it up and playing "Chopin under the trees."[137] The Bicycle Transportation Alliance hosted a breakfast to support Bike to Work Month in May 2009.[138]

In May 1970, there was a Vietnam War protest held in the park blocks, held in response to the invasion of Cambodia and the Kent State Shootings.[139][140][141] Strikers barricaded streets surrounding the university and Park Blocks, causing them to become car-free, as they are now.[140] Due in part to the Kent State Shootings on May 4, and 134 faculty members who had formally joined the strike, Portland State University was forced to close from May 6 to 11.[140][142] By May 6, the protesters formed an underground newspaper, called the Wallposter, and had four demands: "U.S. out of S.E. Asia now; troops, cops off campus; free Bobby Seale; detoxify nerve gas."[140] Posters with a logo were printed in the PSU Smith Center cafeteria, but protesters were evicted from the area by May 7 after a "wild, all-night party".[140] On May 11, police officers charged[143] protesters and forcibly removed a symbolic hospital tent (a geodesic dome) placed on the blocks.[140][142][144] 28 protesters were injured and taken to area hospitals, and four police officers were injured.[142][145] Lawsuits following the protest led to Portland Police agreeing to never use force against non-violent protesters in the future.[140]

The southern end of the South Park Blocks were closed to cars in 1973, removing traffic from the blocks and the center of the university.[146]

The area was the focus of a Portland Development Commission urban renewal based on a 1982 master plan, becoming an urban renewal district in 1985, and expiring in July 2008.[147][148][149] The park blocks underwent serious renovations in 1987, adding plazas, large flower beds, lighting and irrigation, and newly paved sidewalks.[149][150][151] Several apartment complexes specifically aimed at the middle class were built, including the University Park Apartments (125 units, $10.5 million, quickly sold and converted to condos), South Park Square Apartments (184 units, $16 million, completed May 1988), and Tom Mesher's Gallery Park Apartments (31 units, $3 million).[148][151][152][153][154] In 1987, the New Theater Building of the Portland Center for the Performing Arts was completed immediately next door to the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall.[155] The South Park Blocks Association, a commercial and institutional association, was started at that time, to attract residents and consumers to the area and to address security concerns.[151]

A report in 1990 said the blocks were being "held hostage" by the homeless, mainly "aggressive panhandlers, stumbling drunks, violent drug users and the unpredictable mentally ill."[156] Reports in the mid-1990s said "Downtown Portland had become a drug supermarket", with "marijuana and LSD ... being dealt openly in the South Park Blocks," and that the South Park Blocks, especially near the Lincoln statue, were home to "The Park People", who littered, used drugs, and damaged property.[157][158] Youth reported they had moved to the South Park Blocks because they had been kicked out of Pioneer Courthouse Square and O'Bryant Square.[157] A child molester known as "Krusty the Troll" who preyed on homeless teens in the South Park Blocks, was charged with 79 counts of sex crimes in 1996.[159][160] There was a major police sweep of the Park Blocks in 1996 for ordinances such as sitting on the Abraham Lincoln statue, marijuana possession, littering, and loud radios.[161][162][163][164]

Downtown crime was down 30% from 1996 to 2003, and down 7% from 2004 to 2005.[165] Due to crime, Mayor Tom Potter declared a 9 pm curfew in 2005, stating walking is allowed, but "no one will be allowed to loiter, harass visitors or use the park as their personal camp."[166][167][168]The Oregonian stated the curfew was due to a "verbally aggressive" in the area, after the group was displaced from the Burnside Bridge by the Big Pipe Project.[169][170] The curfew was still in effect in February 2006, when it was spread to other downtown parks, citing the reduction in drug dealing that was occurring in the South Park Blocks.[171][172]

In 2006, students from the Art Institute of Portland used stencils to advertise a concert for the Oregon Food Bank. The students believed they were using spray chalk, but after completion, they learned they were actually using spray paint. The students were told that even temporary markings count as graffiti, and the students offered to remove the paint and apologize to businesses affected. Criminal charges were not filed.[173]

A portion of the park typically hosts the summer commencement ceremony for Portland State University students. In 2008, 550 students participated in the ceremony, and it was held rain or shine.[176] PSU also hosts an annual Party in the Park every fall after the school year begins.[177]

The primary Portland Farmers Market location, held in the South Park Blocks every Saturday from March to December attracts up to 14,000 people per weekend to the local food booths.[178][179][180] It was originally held at Broadway and Naito beginning in 1992, but moved to the Park Blocks in 1998.[181][182] A smaller market is held at the north end of the blocks on Wednesdays, and was held in Pioneer Courthouse Square until 1998.[183]

The Saturday South Park Blocks location has been very popular, and has been credited with helping "make the city a national food destination".[184] Beginning in March 2009, dogs were banned from the market, due to "some unfortunate incidents with dogs – tripping people, urinating on food, snatching muffins out of kids' hands".[179][185] Other satellite locations still allow pets.[179] The Saturday location was doubled in size for the 2010 season.[184]

^Duchene, Paul (July 12, 1999). "2-wheelers riding the wind; With the breeze at their back, 6,949 Seattle-to-Portland cyclists make the 200-mile journey to the St. John's Bridge". The Oregonian. p. E01.